Victoria’s record-breaking senior sailor hits rough waters

The waters were a bit rough in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, causing Jeanne Socrates’ boat to heel throughout the day as she tried to find the perfect amount of sail to unfurl.

“Was glad to have a jacket and hood on, with over-trousers, while on deck just now to furl in some more genoa,” Socrates wrote in her blog. “A wave came over the hard top into the cockpit and would have soaked me – but this time I was protected! Not even my hair got wet!”

She ended her 176th day of sailing with a hot cup of soup and some freeze-dried beef-and-pasta hotpot.

Socrates is a Victoria women sailing around the world hoping to get a record for the second time.

In 2013, Socrates earned the title as the world’s oldest woman to sail around the world on a solo trip, when she was 70 years old. The trip took her nine months.

She is presently sailing in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and has faced rough weather over the past week, with her route continuously affected as she tried to avoid warnings of cyclones and typhoons.

While for the most part she’s been succesful, she’s hit some rough patches.

“It was shrieking madly, the sea was very angry-looking, with foam flying, and we were heeled over far too much,” Socrates wrote after a 90 km/h wind snuck up on her on March 22, forcing her to struggle to reign in the sail. ” I had to keep reminding myself that Nereida was a good sturdy boat and we were doing fine, despite the strong conditions.”